Hope Kintobor is a young Overlander and the daughter of Colin Kintobor, niece of Julian Kintobor (aka Dr. Robotnik) and half-sister of Snively. Hope journeyed alongside her father with a large group of Overlanders through space to find a new home following the end of the Great War. During their journey, Hope, while in stasis, learned of the history of conflict between their peoples, but unlike other Overlanders, did not feel the same hostility towards the Mobians. After returning to Mobius, Hope was amongst the group of Overlanders which was deceived by Dr. Eggman (a version of Colin's brother from another dimension) into moving to Robotropolis. When Eggman's true nature was revealed, Hope was soon left an orphan, and took up residence in Knothole prior to its destruction. Determined to help fight her villainous relatives, she joined the Guardian Units of the Nation, becoming a member of Team Dark.

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History

Travels Through Space

Following the Overlanders' defeat in the Great War, Colin and a number of families from Megapolis left the planet to explore space in search of a new home; Hope was only two years old at this time. Throughout her early youth, Hope was raised with the belief that Colin was her step-father and not her actual biological father. In truth, this was because of her grandmother, Lady Agnes Hopkins, seeking to keep Hope from developing any positive feelings for her half-brother Snively Robotnik, who had joined their deranged uncle Dr. Ivo Robotnik. During the Overlanders' travels between worlds, Hope spent most of her time in stasis, learning about their people's history. (StH: #108, SU: #38, CSE)

Return to Mobius

The Kintobor Family

Hope was among the first Overlanders to set foot back on Mobius following their narrow escape from an encounter with a Xorda vessel (an event that would lead to the planet-wide battle against a Xorda in which Sonic nearly died). Her fellow crew-members had previously hoped that the Mobians who had defeated the Overland would have died out during their travels, but were quickly disappointed, and furthermore learned that the Overland had fallen. Hope was frightened by a battle between Sonic the Hedgehog and Monkey Khan, and fled with her people into Robotropolis, where they lived in safety from the "furry menace". Even here, her father continued to hide the truth of her lineage from all parties, undoubtedly to keep Dr. Eggman from developing an interest in her. Eventually, the lifelessness of the city motivated Hope to break curfew and explore, only to turn back, terrified, upon finding a Robian. (StH: #92, #93, #94, #124, CSE)

Frightened by this, Hope slowly felt as though her uncle was hiding something, and had something to do with the roboticized Mobian she encountered. Eventually she convinced her grandmother to discuss the matter with her father, though this came too late. Dr. Eggman revealed his plans to roboticize all of the Overlanders, as they had been exposed to toxic radiation poisoning and would die without treatment. Lady Agnes had her granddaughter run, delaying Eggman long enough for Hope to hide in the city. When Lady Agnes was put on TV screens throughout the city and Eggman threatened to roboticize her unless Hope turned herself in, she came out of hiding so she could be captured, only to witness her grandmother be roboticized anyway. Before the Shadowbots could take her prisoner, Sonic and the Knothole Freedom Fighters arrived on the scene. After explaining that Eggman allowed everyone to be exposed to the toxic radiation, the remaining Overlanders left the city. (StH: #105)

Living with the Mobians

Hope living in Knothole

After spending time in Knothole amongst the Mobians, Hope realized how peaceful and friendly they were. While the other Overlanders were taken in by Station Square as refugees, Hope pleaded with Princess Sally to be allowed to stay as a ward of the city. Sally, as well as her mother and father, agreed after reading a letter from Hope in which she detailed her life's history. She was put in the care of Rosie Woodchuck, who was also in charge of caring for other orphans like Snaggle Tiger, Rory Bear, and Sasha Cat. (StH: #108, CSE)

Hope enjoyed a happy life in Knothole, making many friends, especially Shadow the Hedgehog (who became her behind-the-scenes guardian due to her resemblance to the late Maria Robotnik whom he considered to be family). When Hope was accidentally transported by Locke to a secret location where he'd hoped to convince Shadow to work with him to locate the missing Brotherhood of Guardians, Hope pleaded with Locke to let Shadow go. When Shadow nearly killed Locke, she told him she felt more afraid of him than of the Echidna, and that just because Locke had hurt him didn't excuse Shadow to hurt Locke back. Shadow fled after this, finally accepting that she was not Maria. (StH: #145)

During the Metal Sonic Troopers attack on Knothole, Hope was wounded after one of the 'bots was sent flying back and struck her in the head. This enraged Shadow, who still saw Hope as a link to his past, and thus he threatened to kill Sonic should she die. After the two fought, Rosie convinced them to stop their bickering and get Hope medical attention. She was soon put under the care of Dr. Quack and made a full recovery. (StH: #158, #159)

Hope with Snively

Hope even reconciled with Snively during his several weeks in Knothole after joining the Brain Trust, forgiving him for helping Eggman roboticize their father and grandmother. Because he was family-though closer than she knew-Hope deeply considered his advice on finding a place in the new Overlander cities in the United Federation. Eventually, she left Knothole in her hand-built fighter plane to visit the new human cities to see if it was right for her. In truth, Hope had helped bring out a buried good in Snively, which persuaded him to act to get her to leave Knothole-just before he rejoined the Eggman Empire and took command of the Egg Fleet. (StH: #162, CSE)

The Vow to Restore the Kintobor Name

After spending time amongst the humans, Hope realized she belonged in Knothole with the Mobians. When she returned, she was horrified to see Knothole in ruins, as the Eggman Empire had just destroyed the entire village. When the Egg Fleet began their attack on New Mobotropolis, where all of the Mobians had been transported to thanks to NICOLE, Hope used her fighter plane to attack the Egg Fleet. Hope contacted Snively, who was commanding the Egg Fleet, and explained how betrayed she felt by him, feeling that the Mobians would never accept her again because she left them on Snively's behest. She ended the conversation saying she wouldn't rest until she put an end to Snively and Eggman's tyrrany, hoping to restore some honor to the Kintobor name. This brought Snively to tears, and likely prevented him from ordering the Egg Fleet to destroy her air craft. (StH: #177)

Employed by G.U.N.

Hope with Commander Tower.

Hope survived the battle, returning to the United Federation's capital city, Central City, and becoming a ward of the military. Determined to redeem the names of Robotnik and Kintobor and help free Mobius from tyranny, she began working as an agent for G.U.N. as a mechanic. She assisted in Shadow the Hedgehog's mission to travel to the Special Zone by building a Zone-Breaching Platform, though she wasn't sure where exactly it would send him, leading to Shadow arriving in the wrong zone. Eventually, Shadow managed to return to Mobius Prime with a Chaos Emerald, with Hope and Commander Abraham Tower both praising Shadow for successfully completing the mission. (StH: #195SU: #1, CSE)

Hope quickly impressed Commander Tower with her talents, and he saw her family ties as a possible advantage as well. later managed to fix the transporter so it would now teleport people to the Special Zone and announced this to Shadow and Rouge the Bat after Shadow had managed to recruit a robot of her "uncle's", the powerful E-123 Omega, who Hope found interesting because of its mass amount of weaponry. (SU: #3, CSE)

Hope hugging Shadow.

Hope then managed to transport Shadow and Rouge to the Special Zone, where they encountered Feist who said they must earn a Chaos Emerald by completing a challenge. Due to Feist taking away Shadow's Chaos Control abilities, the duo failed and were sent back to G.U.N. HQ. Shadow then walked out of the lab were Hope's transporter was, and she later met up with him on the outside of Guardian Mountain, saying the view of Capital City was great from up there, and that you could see Soleanna on a clear day. She tries to comfort Shadow, but he says that as the "ultimate lifeform," he was not meant to fail. Hope then says he has a good excuse because he went up against a "panda-god-thing," but she was merely coaxed into leaving Knothole by Snively and came back to find it destroyed, leaving her filled with shame and unable to face Sonic and the others again. Shadow puts a comforting hand on her shoulder and says no one could have seen Eggman's attack coming, and that Snively had actually saved her by doing what he did, and now she was doing more good than ever by helping the United Federation. Hope then tells Shadow that if she hasn't failed, then neither has he, because now he knows how Feist works and can plan ahead for his next confrontation. Hope then embraces Shadow saying that he'll take care of the bad guys while she makes things, and has him promise that they'll be OK in the end, which makes Shadow think of Maria. Hope then teleported the newly formed Team Dark to the Special Zone, but didn't understand the name they were given, and when she asked Commander Tower why he chose it, he merely said it would be evident in time. The trio managed to steal the emerald from Feist, and Hope ran up and hugged Shadow upon his return. (SU: #4)

Reunion with Snively

Hope breaks her ties with Snively.

When Dr. Eggman invaded Central City looking for Snively, who had betrayed the Eggman Empire and fled, Hope was working hard in order to support the city, which was fighting against Eggman's forces. She was working on a Flame Shield when Snively, who was invisible thanks to a device he was holding, revealed himself to her. She quickly ran to alert the others, but, after from what Shadow told her how Snively actually saved her, decided to stay and listen to what Snively had to say after he begged her. He explained to her that they shared the same biological father, making them half-siblings instead of step-siblings. He found this out when they were living together in Knothole through a DNA test that he took in secret, and he guessed that their father wanted to hide their relationship due to Snively joining Dr. Robotnik. He then told her that he was done working with Dr. Eggman and that he wanted to free his love, Regina Ferrum, from her prison in the Dragon Kingdom and have Hope in his life so they can be a happy family. Hope seemed to grow fond of the idea, that is, until Snively went on to explain that he wanted to defeat the Eggman Empire and rule the world. Upset that Snively was still evil, she slapped him in his face and explained to him that he did not change at all and that he was not her brother. She then activated the Flame Shield that she was previously working on so that he could not do anything to her, and it deflected the device he was holding when he threw it at the shield. He then fled in despair. She then cried to herself while talking about how she would never have a family, and E-123 Omega tried to comfort her when he found her. (SU: #38)

Personality

Hope is a caring, wise, and thoughtful girl, whose kind and righteous nature makes it hard for her to have grudges. She has some slight naivety due to the fact that she was in stasis when she was two and was not released until they landed in Mobius some years later. She has a great respect for the gentle, nature-centric culture of most Mobians, and found herself at home in their midst despite their differences in species. Hope is caring and supportive, often encouraging others at their lowest points. She also has a knack for bringing out the positive sides of others, as seen with Snively and Shadow. Hope can however get mad when provoked or saddened.

Abilities

While not a very physically impressive individual-as a juvenile Overlander with no abnormal abilities-Hope is nevertheless a talented inventor and engineer. Her talents in this regard earned her a spot on Team Dark as their technical support. Hope has developed a number of useful machines, including:

Hope's age is extrapolated from a statement she made in Sonic the Hedgehog #108 that she was two years old when the Overlanders left Mobius, which happened 12 years prior to the current year of 3237. Due to having spent time in stasis however, it is possible that her physical age is inconsistent with her chronological age.

According to a Twitter post asking about Dr. Julian Snively's familiar connection to Dr. Eggman, Ian Flynn revealed that they are unable to have SegaSonic characters be set up with non-game canon families any longer. Thus, it can be assumed that Hope Kintobor is no longer related to Eggman. Given the absence of Archie exclusive characters not created/introduced during Ian Flynn's run since the Worlds Collide crossover, it is likely that Hope no longer exists in the new reality.

Appearance

Hope is a young Overlander girl with blond hair and blue eyes. She initially wore a bulky grey or blue spacesuit and later took on more casual attire in the form of a light blue hoodie, dark blue pants and shoes. Because of the color of her hair and eyes (and possibly her attire) she bears some resemblance to Maria Robotnik, her first cousin once removed; however, it should be noted that while this resemblance has been brought up in-story, Hope made her debut months before the release of Sonic Adventure 2, in which Maria first appeared. This similar appearance would later be attributed to the fact that both Hope and Maria actually share the same family tree. Hope is later seen wearing black overalls with a red or orange turtleneck shirt and boots.

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